Printable poster from Sarah Jane

It was a long night. With two little sickies and a thunderstorm, I think they were up at least every hour. You all know that kind of night, for whatever reason: kids, insomnia, stress, weather, illness. You also know I bet, what the morning feels like after one of those nights.

Scratchy eyes, oversensitive ears, a temperament that’s less than pleasant, everything is overwhelming. Kind of Exactly like you’re walking around trying to be conscious while your body is still asleep. It takes a while to wake up on these mornings.

I’ve been thinking about this concept though, in the creative arena. How it takes a while to “wake up,” so to speak.

As a business owner, I’m fairly new to the scene. My first patterns were just released last fall. I’ve been to market once. I’m still in that “just waking up” phase in regards to meeting people, blogging, and marketing. Taxes make my eyes hurt, and my temperament less-than-pleasant. My ears can get oversensitive to other people’s opinions, and yes, things can get overwhelming sometimes.

In other arenas, though, I feel like I’m fully awake (finally!). I’ve been designing things for others for years, but am finally hitting my stride and solidifying my own style. I’m in a place where I like what I design, and know what I don’t like, even if it’s popular. My ears aren’t as worried about criticism these days, and my eyes can pick out what’s not working pretty quickly. Designing makes me happy, especially when I can really take the time to do it just right. I do still get overwhelmed on occasion, but it’s not a constant state anymore, and it’s not a despairing overwhelmed, it’s a life-is-so-full overwhelmed. (My darling friend Sarah just talked about this, here). When I feel like that, my sweetheart Jacob will always remind me to just do one thing at a time, intentionally, and with focus. Whatever the most important thing is.

Turns out, that’s usually playing Candyland with the sweeties, eating something healthy, pulling out my pencils once they’re in bed, then hitting the stacks of fabric.

Oh, and assigning all the Quickbooks work to Jacob.

Maybe that’s the solution in both the “I haven’t had enough sleep” mornings, and the early mornings of a new endeavor. Take it one thing at a time, on purpose. Step-by-step, waking up a little more with each action.

You know what I mean?